The car parking at the hospital's parking lots should be chargeable with due consideration on fairness and reality.
The health authority (or the government) should work out an appropriate policy on this matter via the help of Parking Management experts from DBKK/JKR/NGOs.
One of the ways to relieve the pressure of car parking requirement is to work closely with the public transporter to serve the visitors in the hospital by minimising their need to bring their vehicles along.
All the authority need is determination to solve the problem. The public is eagerly waiting for their actions.
Just based on the report, I think the customer of SMC shouldn't be mad on DBKK for issuing the stop order as there are laws to comply for every body regardless of their status (ideally). The action of DBKK may be viewed as 'inhuman' but they are just trying to carry out their responsibility.
The chaos in fact all originated from the day the now demolished tower block of QEH which declared unsafe in November of 2008. The SMC is considered the 'victim' and the 'beneficiary' of the declaration. As 'Beneficiary', it is sold at a good price to the government and the shareholders of SMC are all laughing their way to the bank, 'Victim' is their customers are suffering with government hospital patients jamming into the same hospital complex and therefore all the chaos and mess.
All in all, the people are the losers.
If people wanted to look for scapegoat, the government is likely be the one as QEH had been neglected during those politicking years between the 80s and 90s. Then, even more unforgivable was that the continuance of the negligence after BN re-took Sabah.
However, what's happened already happened, what we want now is the government swiftly rectify all these problems in the shortest time possible.
People should be patient and sacrifice for another few more months or a year or two (if my observation is not wrong) before things progressed and improved.
Meanwhile, people should write in or voice out to the various channels to tell the government of their grievances on the health care services in Sabah starting from the QEH.
We must start our concern from the 60 state Assemblymen and 25 Members of Parliament.
Have they collectively passed a resolution in the state assembly for our concern on the medical service in Sabah yet?
How I wish PM was warded in Queen Elizabeth Hospital so that he'd have personal experience in understanding our dilapidated condition better?
By providing up to standard medical cares to the society at a competitive cost is one of the top priorities of the government. But, how long can the government sustain the huge costs involved every year with the present rate of fees at a meager RM1 & RM5 per visit respectively?
We pay less and we should expect to get less, it's the rule, therefore, it's important that we must have a clean and efficient government in the first place that fund allocated are fully used in the services.
People must also start to pay more at public hospitals or clinics in order to relieve the government burden but at the same time government must also help people to earn more to reduce the government's subsidies on various welfares rendered to the public.
The real answer still lies with money or fund, that is how good the government in handling the economy.
Yes, we need more hospitals in and around Kota Kinabalu (K. K.) area.
Being a State capital, we must have the best hospital in K. K. handling all the elevated medical cases throughout the state, not mentioning that currently the Queen Elizabeth hospital (QEH) is also taking care of the needs of Labuan F.T., and Lawas & Miri from Sarawak.
Money for QEH should be readily available for the Twin Tower block that will provide 400 more beds!
Building more hospitals or upgrading the services in the surrounding areas such as Penampang and Papar districts should be placed as high priority in the government's development agenda in view of the background that the present infrastructure and services had not been matched with the development pace of Kota Kinabalu in the past 20 years.
The 'sudden' lost of the main tower block of QEH in November, 2008 virtually 'crippled' the medical services of the state, however, the situation turned slightly better with the facility then 'acquired' from Sabah Medical Centre; and subsequently, the purchase of the entire SMC building which is now renamed as Hospital Queen Elizabeth II.
The 'immediate' available of additional general hospitals in the near K.K. area such as Kinarut, or Penampang, or Bukit Padang, should relieve the growing pressure of QEH which should now focus more on the 'specialist' cases, or higher level of medical services.
The 10th Malaysia Plan however will start only from January, 2011 which is about 10 months away. In view of the urgency in Sabah, the government led by PM Najib, shouldn't wait for the 10th Malaysia Plan to implement; as these hospitals and medical facilities should have had been in place years ago.
Apart from the hardware, the medical services just like any other services in the state, suffers from the manpower problem, that it's also equally urgent to be resolved immediately; otherwise, the problems remain.
Health service in Sabah is going to change again with a new leader, Dr. Mohd. Yusof.
Dr. Marzhuki is from Kedah, the northern most state of Malaysia on the peninsula of Malaya.
He served only 22 months in Sabah, and now has to leave for his home state of Kedah.
ALPH of Queen Elizabeth Hospital had paid him a courtesy visit sometimes early 2009, the time during the height of the controversial SMC purchase. We had very good dialog and discussion on the problems arose from the unsafe declaration of the main tower block of Queen Elizabeth hospital.
Together with the QEH Management Team led by Dr. Zuraidah, he'd however handled the QEH fiasco quite well, and it's unfortunate that he can't be able to see it all through because of the transfer. His duty is now handled by his former Deputy, Dr. Mohd. Yusof, a local Labuanite Sabahan, who's now becoming the Acting Director to continue the tough challenges in Sabah.
We wish Dr. Marzhuki well in his next important position in Kedah.
Sabah is a large state compared to other states in malaysia.
Therefore, the new chief of the medical services in Sabah is not an easy post.
The difference between the two parties over the power issue is that LDP is in the government and SAPP is an independent opposition party now on its own.
PM had come and left with doubts whether Federal government is sincere in resolving the pressing problems in Sabah.
The rejection of coal-fired power plant project in any part of Sabah is purely a clear demonstration of high awareness of the Sabahan on environmental issues, and not so much of political.
The proposal to build a coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu, Sabah, had never been a popular idea since its infamous damages caused to the residents and its surroundings have been unfavourably known all over.
For a state focusing on eco-tourism, the introduction of the coal-fired power plant means a threat to the industry and the state future income. General consensus is that a pristine environment is the key ingredient in the continuation of eco-tourism. There have been several verbal guarantees undertaking by various VIPs on the security and safety of the coal-fired power plant. How good are these guarantees?
The regional sentiment is high in this part of the world due largely caused by the unbalanced status of developments in the past 46 years. PM has a lot to catch up especially on how to eliminate the unjust feelings now felt generally in Sabah.
The vocal appeals over various local issues from LDP via its women and youth wings shows that people are more vocal and getting more proactively involved in the administration of the public affairs.
The sentiments against the central government, especially in the urban area, are high because promised projects are not forthcoming to ease the hardship of the people, or somewhat too slow to act, and like the QEH affairs, there is simply no significant progress on the improvement of hospital services ever since the main tower block was declared unsafe in November, 2008.
The above news report published in Asia Times Sabah today referred.
First of all, I must admit that what this man (Mr. Ng or Huang in Mandarin) said is whole true, nothing, but the truth.
He's been 'working' in the hospital Queen Elizabeth for very long time, and he's more than qualified to speak up and tells all about the situation of the hospital since the main tower block of the hospital declared unsafe.
There is indeed a need of urgency from our beloved YB Liow or PM Najib to act as quickly as possible. We need the facility as early as twenty years ago. Some said that we'd have got all the required medical facilities if there had no PBS pulling out of BN fold twenty years ago. Sabahan was blamed for immature politically as well as paying dearly for its YBs over the years for their own negligence and ignorance (performance) in politic and administration.
The federal must have their own dilemma of not able to immediately completed the acquisition of the Sabah Medical Centre (SMC), and I suspect that CM Musa must have got high level information of impending delay that a so-called 'short term' solution be invoked, and hopefully, the 'Khidmat Hospital' will be in place by next July.
Most of the people I talked to regarding the suitability of location of present Khidmat site to be used as hospital; most were acknowledged as inappropriate, and in fact, some suggested it be turned to a hotel instead.
The KhidmatHospital would never be required if the sales & purchase agreement for the SMC deal was completed immediately after PM Najib’s announcement on 5 May, 2009.
The completion of the purchase is critical in the chain of resolving the QEH case that there would have started the renovation works in SMC which should provide 200 beds in one year time. The benefits are not only we could relieve the congestion problems at present QEH but also be able to demolish the unsafe tower block and commences work on the Twin Tower, as well as able to attracting more doctors to work in QEH.
Therefore, PM Najib should immediately complete the acquisition without further delay under humanitarian and ‘emergency” consideration. Sabah people will surely appreciate his excellent leadership and helps for many years to come.
Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has issued a directive for work to convert Wisma Khidmat into a private hospital to start soon as possible and completed within one year.
He said the move was necessary in view of the acute shortage of proper medical facilities at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here, which was causing much inconvenience to the people.
Musa, who is also State Finance Minister, said he had requested a briefing from three senior state health officers on the status of the upgrading of QEH and the approved takeover of Sabah Medical Centre.
"I am sad and disappointed that there is still delay in implementing measures to overcome the lack of medical facilities namely a well-equipped general hospital in Kota Kinabalu," he said after chairing the Cabinet meeting at Wisma Innoprise, Wednesday.
"They are going to build another hospital but we don't know when. So I think we need to take immediate measures," he said, adding "furthermore we feel we can do it a lot faster".
The private hospital costing over RM100 million would have 150 beds and medical facilities such as an operating theatre and would be given "on loan" to the QEH while waiting for the other planned hospital to be completed.
"We have to be proactive in this matter. The State Government will do its part to assist the Ministry of Health to cover the gap until they can provide sufficient medical facilities for the people of Sabah".
He stressed that even though it would be a private hospital "we do not have to think about making profit but the lives and health of the people must come first".
"We realise the suffering of the patients due to the congestion at QEH, not only patients but relatives and doctors are affected," he said. On the parking space at Wisma Khidmat, Musa believed this issue and others would be addressed.
The work to convert Wisma Khidmat into a private hospital is being done by Sabah Credit Corporation, which owns the building. Musa also said that there must be a full cooperation from all relevant authorities to expedite the completion of the hospital.
1. The State Government is taking the initiative to save lives while the federal government has been able to provide 'lip' service only;
2. The federal government is not sensitive to the medical needs of the local people in Sabah;
3. The life of the local people is worthless;
4. The State Government works more efficiently than the federal government;
5. The State Government is more resourceful and creative than federal government in now resolving the woes of the QEH by converting the abandoned Wisma khidmat to a 150-bed private hospital;
6. The federal government has no direction as to how to end the debacle in QEH by not able to tell what, when, and where to expect.
The list can go on and on...
All the above reasons making our CM absolutely justified his decision to 'build' a hospital in a rush while risking of ending up with a 'half-cooked' hospital at the end.
He shouldn't have done it as it's just not a smart way of overcoming the medical service shortages. We need a good long term asset, not an improper short term infrastructure that might be declared unsafe again in less than ten years!
RM100million will be required for the 'Khidmat hospital'; and it may be a better idea if Bukit Padang site be handed over to the State Government for a proper hospital instead of pouring the RM100mil to the so-called 'Khidmat Hospital'? This should only be the last choice of all the options available.
Instead, he should persuade the federal government to immediately pay the SMC to hand-over the building for immediate renovation works on the two storey empty space. PM Najib should have no problem in doing so as he's also the Finance Minister who can use his authority to approve the transaction under emergency situation, something like a 'natural disaster' circumstances.
There are talks that the long-delayed commencement work on the Twin Tower block would not be able to start because the ill-fated old tower block of QEH couldn't be demolished. However, this is a lame excuse and certainly unacceptable. It's only a matter of wanting to do it or not. Someones high-up there should have mercy on Sabahan and deliver us the long-awaited full-fleged general hospital as quickly as possible.
Now that two months have passed, nothing is being done on the renovation, and further more, nothing also being done on the twin tower adjacent the Specialist building at the present QEH site. Time is lost, so are lives, inevitably. The government is simply too slow!
Is this the performance that we can accept in this land? Is this the KRA (Key Result Area) that the federal government has been talking about? I would be interested to see the KPI (Key Performance Index) of the various officials score on the QEH situation.
I think federal must treat the situation in QEH as special because the situation is truly extraordinary and therefore requiring special handling by PM himself.
CM Musa indirectly indicated that the state is not happy with the federal of its handling of the QEH fiasco.
Will the State of Sabah continue to be a sustainable ‘fixed asset’ for BN? The outlook is bad especially for MCA Sabah whose Vice President Datuk Liow is the Minister of Health! Not only that, it's State Liaison Chief, YB Datuk Khoo, Kepayan State Assemblyman, who is the Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister Department, also an incharge of the state medical affairs in the CM department! The outcome of the QEH in the next 1-2 years will definitely have some bearings on the result of the next general election in Sabah.
It's therefore of utmost urgency to resolve the QEH as quickly as possible; well, at least, it should be seen progressively being resolved. And, it's time that the federal displays its competency and, most importantly - sincerity.
I'm extremely excited by the pledge of our new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, today by declaring: 'One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.'
I hope that the first success story would come from Sabah with particularly the re-construction solution of Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kota Kinabalu.
QEH is now under "Emergency" status and requiring the direct attention and management of the Minister of Health and Prime Minister/ Finance Minister.
The implementation of the QEH will be the solid evidence of 'One Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.' Prime Minister Najib should take charge personally on the implementation of the various rebuilding process including the allocation of the emergency funds for the QEH.
In the QEH case, we could see that certain peoples are not putting people first. It's the "ugly" face of "selfishness, greediness and heartlessness" that saw the unnecessary delay of the progress of QEH's rebuilding.
QEH is one of the oldest hospitals in Sabah, and being situated in the State Capital, it should have been the best in Sabah, or one of the best hospitals in Malaysia.Unfortunately, it's in a sorry state now.
As Prime Minister, the paramount leader of Malaysian, he should be acting fairly for all, as he mentioned in his speech, that he should look at the performance, and not any others.
Like the great Chinese Premiere Teng Xio Ping had said: "cats which can catch mice, regardless of its fur colour, are good cats indeed. "
It's high time that PM Najib delivers results if UMNO/BN is to regain the heart of the people again especially with the minority as well as those who are truly competent in their works.
The credential for Najib is there to see, and he seems very much ready to flex his muscle and fly with an idealism of hoping to see all Malaysian regardless of their creeds united as one people, and thereby as one nation and competing successfully in the globalized world.
I hope that the One Malaysia that he mentioned means forever goodbye to inequality and the Zero-Sum attitude of the entire nation.
Everyone must pull back and concentrate on the economic development instead. As he had said: "we must never leave anyone behind.”, or like in the "Lilo and Stich" film, the stich said: "Family means no body is left behind."
Indeed, what matter most is always the end result, that is: Performance! Malaysia can not afford to have another 50 years of time wastage.
Let's positively sit back and see what the performance he'll bring us.
Does the success of Sabah UMNO in the recent UMNO assembly bring new changes to Sabah?
It now lies with the capability and competency of the UMNO State Liaison office and its leaders, to deliver the wishes of Sabahan.
People expects performance, now that they are given responsible positions in the top leadership, they must be able to deliver what has expected of them.
The day of lame excuses for not able to deliver is over.
They should be united in their efforts to bring benefits to the people of Sabah. They should work closely with the existing BN components in Sabah, be they local or semenanjung-based. They are now the real bridge between Sabah & Semenanjung.
Being locals, they should know all the Sabahan's issues accordingly.
This is also the time that federal shows their sincerity in helping the Sabah people.
Will the dreadful situation of Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) be resolved quickly with the emergence of Sabah UMNO in the backbone of BN government?
Will the widely concerns of illegal immigrant issues be satisfactorily resolved now with greater political influence in the central government network?
Will the other pressing issues expediently solved before next general election?
Their shoulders become heavy with the new achievements in the UMNO assembly.
We can only hope that they'd be able to accomplish them all, otherwise, BN in Sabah would become irrelevant in the next election.
I'm amazed at the level of awareness of our State YB on the actual situation of Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) that our Assistant Rural Development Minister Datuk Sairin Karno, YB for Keningau, said "the Kota Kinabalu hospital (QEH) management should look for a suitable site to build a new hospital, instead of buying yet another private hospital or an old building". YB also said that the Keningau District Hospital is still new and very well equipped for solving hospital-related problems in the city. He is also concerning about the millions of Ringgits that could be required for resolving the crisis. (Please refer to the following URL for details of news report from Daily Express 22-March-2009, http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=63646)
Honestly, he was only slightly right and mostly "wrong" in his understanding of the situation, it's shocking and disappointing to hear from a people's representative so ignorance of a crucial and important matter albeit of the controversy surrounding it right now; I'd strongly suggest that the State Cabinet or State Assembly convene an emergency briefing to all State & Federal YBs on the pressing matter, considering that the QEH is a State hospital, i.e. it should be the best in the state and among the bests in the country.
It's not really a simple case as perceived by YB Sairin. It's bad enough for him to have "sleepless" nights if he ever been briefed on the situation.
It's already a "nightmare" to send patients between hospitals around Kota Kinabalu, what more if it is between Kota Kinabalu & Keningau, as it's common experience for most travelers of the danger of this route. If it's really not a problem to travel on the Kota Kinabalu-Keningau route as claimed by the honourable YB, then the building of the existing Keningau hospital may sound like a waste of public money; that the people of Keningau could have been using the QEH than having their own.
It certainly not funny for both patient and their relatives to be away from their home by being placed in Keningau hospital. There have been cases of next-of-kin and relatives of patients complaining of the inconveniences and stresses to travel on the relatively easier distance between Beaufort and Kota Kinabalu.
The Honourable YB should get down to the "field" to feel and see the reality before making himself look naive, perhaps he's innocent as he's probably never briefed in the assembly or through the cabinet.
The truth is that the QEH is in critical condition and time is insufficient to build a new one within a tolerable time frame. As time is critically important in the quest of saving life, the immediate availability of the SMC definitely a perfect solution to alleviate the situation.
The idea of acquiring the SMC, the only modern hospital available for sale in the area, may look "shameful" to the federal government or State Government, however, if the decision is adopted, may actually turn out to be the "saviour" of the federal government at the end.
There are wrong perceptions by most of the public, especially and regrettably some politicians either from BN or Pakatan Rakyat, that the QEH solution is either getting this building or that building; in actual fact, all the buildings like the Twin Tower Block, New Kinarut Hospital,SMC, Bukit Padang Mesra Hospital, New Heart Centre, or even the Penampang Hospital are all supposedly to be delivered "yesterday", some even as long as twenty years ago!
In other words, Sabah should be asking for all these facilities delivered now even if it's already late and long over-dued for years.
We need a hospital building like SMC anyway, if pricing is the main concern, then the government should engage a reputable or more than one professional valuers to carry out the task of valuation. It may be a refreshing idea that the oppositions engage their own professional valuers to have a "fair" comparison, instead of throwing doubts about the purchase. Nevertheless, the politicians should know their role and boundary well, and not trying to meddle in everything beyond their competency, and making themselves look funny.
There should have been, and should be, a thorough study of the needs at the existing QEH site where an integrated and complete solution should be appropriately designed, planned and implemented, in smooth and less-disrupted stages.
This time round, based on the past experience, we hope that our YBs are all working sincerely, diligently and dedicating their times by especially following up closely with the progress of our hospitals that are going to last for many years to come.
I refer to the news appearing in the Star Online this afternoon under the title: "A step closer to Labuan-Sabah bridge" by Mr. RUBEN SARIO, and I have reservation on the possibility of building the Labuan-Sabah bridge in the near future. I just feel that it may never take off.
As the Prime Minister later said, after launching the halal distribution hub at Kiansam, some 20kms from downtown Labuan yesterday, that “Something of this magnitude is not immediately possible but it should be given due attention”.
Although the long-awaited bridge, between mainland Sabah and the Labuan island, will definitely boost up the future prospects of Labuanites, the high costs involved must be justified based on value return and urgency, for example.
The project was estimated at approximately RM550million in 1997 under the The Labuan Development Masterplan; it may be much higher comes 2009. It could well be in the billion mark if it were to go ahead now.
Questions are : Why do we need a bridge for Labuan & Sabah? Isn't the present ferry service good enough for the situation there?
What we really hear most is that the ferry service, being a monopoly, has not been doing its "duty" well despite enjoying very profitable business. In other words, the operator is taking its sweet time by doing little instead of bringing out its bests yet.
The fate of Labuan people are therefore in the hands of the ferry operator who can change the island's future by simply improving services such as increasing the frequency of service with reliability.
Do we still need the bridge now if the ferry operator could do their part well? The answer may be "yes! but not now",if the justification hurdle can not be met.
The RM1b might as well be used in other more pressing areas such as, notably, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kota Kinabalu.
Our leaders should not have announced something that may be years away without taking into account of the reality. They should look into the real needs now than doing something considering as "impractical" at this moment. At least presently, it may not be the bridge that Labuan people needs most.
What the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should have been done, pragmatically, was to get the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and the Finance ministry to immediately release the urgently needed funds for projects or schemes meant to help the people getting over the impact of the financial tsunami, as well as solving the woes of Sabahan over the QEH affair.
Wow! No wonder Najib once said that Sabah is BN's Fixed Deposit. Just read the following news feeds from The Star Online and you should know why.
What a pity they didn't lobby the case (of QEH) early, nevertheless, it's still never too late to do so now:-
Sabah a key state for Umno contenders By MUGUNTAN VANAR
KOTA KINABALU: The who’s who of Umno made a beeline for Sabah as determined candidates pushed the campaigning momentum into high gear with the party elections only three weeks away.
Sabah is an important pit stop for the candidates because its 325 delegates form the second largest group in the party general assembly, after the 578 delegates from Johor.
Sabah not getting new hospital yet By MUGUNTAN VANAR
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has to wait a little longer for a new general hospital despite the urgency of the matter, as there is no budget for it under the current Ninth Malaysia Plan.
“We have agreed in principle to a new hospital, but we cannot say when it will be implemented,” Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad told reporters Monday after launching a pre-school food safety campaign.
He was asked about plans to overcome severe congestion at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here after its eight-storey tower block was closed due to structural problems. Patients were relocated to other hospitals in the state.
“We are still waiting for the budget from the Finance Ministry and the Economic Planning Unit,” he said.
However, he added, a plot of land for the hospital had been identified.
What! No Money for replacing the Sabah's OldestEstablishedHospital with a new hospital structure?
Being 2nd largest of 325 votes also can't do anything to help getting the hospitals Sabahan need badly?
It's really a shame for the country as QEH is a ReferralHospital in Sabah. Despite being the longest established hospital since 1953, it's also the only main government hospital in the whole Kota Kinbalu city.
Kota Kinabalu is a State Capital, a tourist's favourite, which is also the main gateway to Sabah.
It will be bad if health services in Kota Kinabalu are at fault or not up to international standard due to the deteriorating condition caused by the "un-safe for use" declaration of its main tower block in last November.
The quality of service is compromised now as a result of the consequential shifting and dispersion of facilities to other surrounding locations.
It should be an important responsibility of the government to make sure that standard is kept to acceptable level, both domestically or internationally. The situation might affect the tourism business badly if no immediate attempts to address the shortcomings.
Finance Minister, also DPM, Dato Najib, should seriously help us on this matter as Sabahan has been suffering enough with all the misdeeds of the pasts.
Never mind about the so-called Sabah Development Corridor which can be developed in parallel despite a little later but not the people's life and health; he should therefore take a special look into this matter urgently, and approve the required fund accordingly now, before it's too late.
This time, DPM should make sure that the government appoints the best contractor to deliver the new building in less than 2 years time.
Sabahan will definitely appreciate it for his competency and caring.
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